Qantas and Cathay Pacific are schedule to operate extra flights from Brisbane and Sydney to Hong Kong in February 2009 and Qantas will reintroduced limited Cairns - Hong Kong services also during February 2009. The Qantas services will be operated by a mix of A330-200 and A330-300 aircraft.

Strategic Airlines has also relaunched their website and introduced a local UK version.

Saw one of our Brand New Aircraft today at MELVH-VUR, as soon as I entered the aerobridge I could smell the new aircraft smell (she had flown in earlier from BNE), however she is not fiited with W Class seats or Live2Air and neither are the next 2 aircraft VH-VUS and VH-VUT, interestingly enough the aircraft livery on the tail is the old Virgin font yet the winglets have the new font.

By the way the first DJPER-HKT service had a weight restriction placed on it today!!!!!!

Quoting Tayser (Reply 6):repost from #31. nearmap.com has been launched and has sat imagery regularly updated - this capture was taken with the SQA380 parked and shows the T2 expansion nearing (physical) completion:

Should be open in the next week or so,shalll be a nice improvement, now hopefully they will update the interior in the rest of the terminal, esp check-in! Not to mention how desperatly it is needed in peak perriods.

SMH and The Adelaide Advertise have articles in relation to a QF plan having to divert from ADL as it would have landed 1 minute after 11pm (curfew).http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/qantas-flight-diverted-over-curfew-bureaucracy-gone-mad-20091113-ieg3.html

I originally came from ADL and was frustrated by the NIMBY attitude of the people around ADL airport 30 years ago, and we have the same problem in SYD.

Given that the houses around the airports have been insulated and that non commercial / pax planes are allowed to come and go during curfew, what to people think about a more scientific approach to noise analysis and flight movements after 11pm rather than decisions by noise type irrespective of noise levels?

Quoting AusA380 (Reply 9):what to people think about a more scientific approach to noise analysis and flight movements after 11pm rather than decisions by noise type irrespective of noise levels?

Planes genuinely departing on time to reach a destination (that are delayed due weather or MX after departing on time) should be given a grace period of say Flight Time +20%. Planes that dont depart on time for an arrival within curfew should be denied landing. Obviously a/c declaring an emergency are already exempt

Sending a plane back as in the ADL scenario is environmentally wrong

Where's the passion gone out of the airline industry? The smell of jetfuel and the romance of taking a flight....

Quoting AusA380 (Reply 9):what to people think about a more scientific approach to noise analysis and flight movements after 11pm rather than decisions by noise type irrespective of noise levels?

Having a noise-biased curfew that has greater restrictions on louder aircraft-engine-airline combinations and less restrictions on quieter aircraft-engine-airline combinations would encourage operators to make use of quieter aircraft, which given the vagaries of scheduling would probably spill over outside the curfew period, providing additional benefit. In my preferred model, there would be a series of noise brackets. Aircraft falling into the loudest would be prohibited from operating between 8pm and 8am, for instance. For quieter aircraft, the prohibition period would progressively shorten (be it down to no prohibition, or just a shorter prohibition). The regulations would be drafted such that over a reasonable period of time, the noise brackets would move to being quieter, so as to encourage the continued reduction in aircraft noise (in a similar way that we have ICAO Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4 etc.)

I suspect this is much too sensible an idea to be implemented.

V/F

"So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth." - Bahá'u'lláh

Quoting DJMEL (Reply 12):Yes, they enter service in Australia and then get retrofitted in Australia can't remember whether its in BNE or ADL, I'm not sure why they don't do it before it goes into service.......

Continental Airlines has both older -900s and newer 900ERs. The 900ERs are used for US Coast to Coast - they would be a bit of a waste if DJ used them just for extra seats between SYD and MEL/BNE. CO operates them with 20 US domestic F seats and 153 US Coach Class. They would be interesting if DJ used them with a Y+ product on longer flights, and perhaps some Trans Tasman flights - If PacificBlue wants to carry Business traffic between AKL and SYD, 739ERs with Y+ seats would be one way to do it. Improved daily frequency would be another.

I went for a wonder through the new extended part of the terminal out at MEL today, Very nice airy and modern with massive windows down the end at the gate level, at this stage only half of the concourse is open, totaling an additional three gates at this stage but that will certainly make a huge difference, at the moment Air New Zealand are using the gates only. However I imagine Emirates will use gate 16 shortly as it is a dual aerobridge which it is preferred on the A340 where as they have been recently been using the single bridge on gate ten.
Arrivals is a bit odd as you have to go up then follow the corridor along where there is a glass partition in between arrivals and departures and then back down a level again...
There are no coffee shops or anything down their yet so hopefully something get put in, more than vending machines its along walk thats for sure.

Hopefully the refurbish the rest of the airport like that new, ie re-tile and relight the place. Currently the arrivals level is awful and check-in rather dated and drab.

Quoting Alangirvan (Reply 19):Continental Airlines has both older -900s and newer 900ERs. The 900ERs are used for US Coast to Coast - they would be a bit of a waste if DJ used them just for extra seats between SYD and MEL/BNE. CO operates them with 20 US domestic F seats and 153 US Coach Class.

The 737-900 has already been discontinued in favour of the -900ER, so overkill or not, it's the only (737) game in town if you're looking for high capacity.

There's always the A321, of course, which does already feature in the QF group fleet. Whether it has advantages over the -900ER for short-range flying, though, I've no idea.

Quoting DavidByrne (Reply 22):There's always the A321, of course, which does already feature in the QF group fleet. Whether it has advantages over the -900ER for short-range flying, though, I've no idea.

For an fleet with lots of 737 the answer is no

Where's the passion gone out of the airline industry? The smell of jetfuel and the romance of taking a flight....

Quoting Jetfuel (Reply 23):Quoting DavidByrne (Reply 22):
There's always the A321, of course, which does already feature in the QF group fleet. Whether it has advantages over the -900ER for short-range flying, though, I've no idea.

For an fleet with lots of 737 the answer is no

Taking a broader view, though, the QF group already covers both Airbus and Boeing short-haul products - 737, A320, A321. The carrier doesn't seem to have any qualms about juggling A330s and B787s between the carriers, both currently and in terms of forward planning, so it's not an impossibility that the A321 might be an option if it suited QF's short-haul high-density needs.

This is not my beautiful house . . . This is not my beautiful wife

25 6thfreedom
: I tend to agree. I think the 739ER has an advantage on the 321 on range, in which case given DJs longer sectors to DPS and HKT, its range will be ver

26 Jetfuel
: So DJ/VA are in trouble over their Friday 13th Gold Velocity yes you have, no you dont email computer "glitch" fiasco and now Qantas check-ins have be

27 TN486
: Exactly the point I made in a previous thread, so I agree with you. Once the economy starts moving DJ are going to need this additional capacity, and

28 TN486
: This may sound corny, but I reckon its great when an employee can walk into the workplace and see it with a critical eye, well done Smi006, most empl

29 Jetfuel
: Problem is the cheapest 787 is double the cost of a 739ER. The 787 doesn't make twice the income. This is where the 757 was such the perfect plane

30 Smi0006
: Hahah that maybe true or perhaps it makes my cynical lol? Gates in the new concourse that are currently completed are I think; Gate 12 Gate 14 Gate 1

31 VirginFlyer
: I was under the impression Lion were taking the aircraft? Boeing's orderbook has 178 (!) 737-900ERs for Lion Air, 22 of which have been delivered to

32 Jetfuel
: I think many of us were expecting Lion to go bust under the debt and the GFC. I don't know enough about them as to whether they are doing ok. I know

33 TN486
: Thank you for the update, I probably had in my mind the on again off again participation in the Australian aviation scene. Smi006 thanks for that, th